So I Chose to Hire …

… an actual, bona fide, employee.

VERY scary.

But after nearly 22 years of working in the salon industry, I have had plenty of opportunity to draw my own conclusions about the prevalence of booth rent.

At least if you do hair, you still have opportunities to cut your teeth at Supercuts — getting paid by the hour whether you have clients or not. But similar options for nail techs are few and far between.

Making this one of the few industries where you must attend specialized vocational training, pass a written and practical state board exam to obtain a license — and are expected to immediately open your own business.

No wonder we have such a high failure rate in our business: You have to open a business and commit to a lease agreement before you can start building a clientele — but any financial consultant will tell you that opening a business without any sort of reliable income is a bad idea. Talk about your Catch 22’s.

But yeah, hiring an employee is scary. It involves a ton of fine print and legal gobbledygook. And hundreds of sources all telling you conflicting information. Don’t even get me started on how many former business owners (mostly from other industries) insist that I don’t want to hassle with employees and tell me how my industry works (gee thanks, I had no idea). Other employers are even giving me advice on how to fly under the radar and avoid several legalities and financial issues!

I understand why booth rental is appealing in our industry and I appreciate that it’s an option. But it shouldn’t be the only option. Newly licensed nail techs should have a reasonable opportunity to find employment in the industry that equates to actual employment.